


A Step Too Far

by Red_Lenses



Series: When The Storm Breaks [8]
Category: Rockman | Mega Man Classic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drama, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Mild Language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-11
Updated: 2018-10-11
Packaged: 2019-07-29 08:20:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16260341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Red_Lenses/pseuds/Red_Lenses
Summary: Mega Man makes a mistake he can never take back.





	A Step Too Far

_“… Police are being flooded with dozens of reports of robots known to be under the command of the infamous Doctor Albert Wily, who is still at large following his most recent jailbreak. These robot sightings have fuelled existing rumours that Doctor Wily is planning to launch yet another attack. Residents are reminded that any robots known to be under his command are extremely dangerous and not to be approached. A full list can be found on our website or at your local police station-”_

The television screen shut off, cutting off the newscaster mid-sentence. Doctor Light released a heavy sigh as he leaned back in his armchair, the hand still gripping the remote resting beside him. The bad news only kept coming. First Time Man’s report, then the discovery of Blues’ death, and now this. It was as though dark clouds had been gathering over the city and now the storm was finally about to break.

“Dad!”

The voice prompted the doctor to raise his head, glancing around the side of his chair. Rock’s head had appeared in the doorway, his messy brown hair already hidden beneath his iconic blue helmet. The sight made Doctor Light’s heart skip a beat. His son was expecting trouble. “What happened?”

“You saw the news just then, didn’t you? I was watching it in the lab. There are Wily bots being sighted all over the city!” Rock moved fully into the room, a determined frown fixed upon his face. “I have to go out there with Rush and patrol. If they start causing trouble I want to be there right away to put a stop to it.”

There was nothing Doctor Light could say to stop him, even if he had wanted to. “Be careful. Don’t stay out too late and contact me if anything happens.”

“I will. If you need me call me home.” With those parting words he was gone, running down the hallway in search of Rush. Doctor Light heard a bark in response to his calls and a moment later the two had beamed out, leaving the house feeling strangely empty.

“But why?” Doctor Light murmured to himself, turning his head slowly until he was staring at the blank television screen again. “If Albert is gone, why would his robots still threaten the city? Under whose orders are they acting…?”

* * *

The evening sun was sinking below the horizon as Bass paced along, E-tank in one hand. The traffic rush was over and only the occasional car passed by on the road, but the sidewalk was completely empty. Any humans who had been on it moments before had scattered at the sight of him to leave his path clear. He couldn’t care less what they were doing. All he cared about was the wolf beside him, who was glaring at anything that moved.

A deep, rumbling growl from the canine was Bass’ first sign that danger was nearby. He glanced up, his eyes scanning first the street and then the sky before finally locating the threat. A familiar blue figure was soaring overhead on the back of an equally familiar canine-shaped jetboard, seemingly scanning for any disturbances in the city’s routine.

There was no way he could miss Bass standing in the middle of the empty sidewalk. And sure enough, within moments the dog had flown low in front of them and Mega Man sprang from his back, landing in a crouch from which he quickly straightened up. “Bass! I should’ve known you’d be involved in this. What are you and the others planning?”

Bass scowled at the blue-clad robot as Rush came in for a landing nearby. This was the last thing he needed on top of an already bad day. “What makes you think there’s a plan or that I’m involved in it?”

“I’ve fought Doctor Wily’s robots enough times to know there’s always a plan,” Mega Man shot back, “and you’re always involved. So tell me what’s going on!”

Bass drained his E-tank in two gulps and crumpled the empty canister in his fist. “What’s going on is I’m about to tear your head off and use it as a football,” he growled before tossing the container straight at his enemy’s head. Mega Man instinctively shot it out of the air, not realizing until too late that it had only been a distraction. By the time the trash hit the ground Bass was upon him.

The Light bot allowed his opponent’s momentum to send both of them flying. He hit the ground on his back and immediately kicked upward with both feet, launching Bass straight over his head. He was on his feet instantly but his opponent was just as quick, already pelting him with a wave of rapid-fire shots even as he regained his balance.

Rush was backing away from the fight, growling at Bass but fully aware that he couldn’t fight well enough to help his master. Treble on the other hand wasted no time in springing straight into the action. Mega Man let out a cry of pain as he felt a set of jaws fasten around his arm, the wolf’s weight dragging him into an awkward half-crouch. Before he could attempt to fight him off Treble had begun to shake his head fiercely, tearing the sleeve of his bodysuit and the synthetic skin beneath to shreds.

The image of the oncoming Wily bot appeared to vibrate wildly in Mega Man’s vision as he was shaken from side to side, but he could make out the vicious set of claws that had replaced Bass’ right hand. He threw himself aside just in time to avoid a swipe that would have ripped him open. Treble snarled as the arm was twisted from his grip, leaving him holding nothing but a scrap of fabric. He spat it out and lunged to attack again as Mega Man leaped up, his buster at the ready.

The charged shot he unleashed had been intended for Bass. Instead it caught the leaping wolf straight in the face. Mega Man had already braced himself for more pain when Treble crashed into him, his weight knocking the boy to the ground again, but the next bite never came.

“Treble! _No!_ ”

Bass rammed into Mega Man with enough force to knock him into the street. He scrambled upright immediately, ready to continue the fight, but Bass was no longer paying attention to him. He was kneeling over Treble, who was lying in a crumpled heap on the sidewalk. Mega Man’s eyes widened in shock as he realized that half of the canine’s head had been torn away, exposing shattered circuit plates and charred wires. Fragments of his internal structures were scattered over the sidewalk.

Mega Man slowly lowered his weapon as a sudden chill coursed through his body. “… Bass? Is he-“

“Don’t you fucking talk to me,” Bass snarled, not looking away from Treble’s body. But he seemed to have had the same thought; his hands were fumbling shakily at what was left of Treble’s head, searching frantically for the most important piece of him. Surely it had to be safe. It was well-protected enough to survive almost any attack.

Mega Man’s buster transformed back into a hand. He could only watch with trepidation as Bass searched. And when the Wily bot stopped and clutched Treble close to him, his entire body shaking worse than ever, he knew without needing to ask.

For a moment the street was silent but for Bass’s gasping breaths. Mega Man stood watching helplessly, regretting the last few minutes more than anything else in his entire existence. He had thought destroying dozens of Wily’s robots felt terrible. But they had been salvageable… their IC chips had been intact… he had known they could be rebuilt and given another chance…

“Bass…?” He had not intended to speak; his voice came out sounding very small. He drew a deep breath and tried to continue, “I really didn’t mean to-“

“Get out of here.”

Rush let out a low whine as he slunk to his master’s side. Mega Man rested a hand on his head as though to draw strength from him. “I just-“

“I said go!” Bass roared as he finally jerked his head upward to glare at the Light bot. His eyes were shining with moisture in the fading light of sunset, his teeth bared as though ready to continue where Treble left off. Mega Man had never seen so much loathing in one expression before; he hastily took several step back as Bass rose halfway from the ground, looking ready to murder him. “Get the hell out of here! And if I ever see your face again I’ll fucking kill you!”

Despite all of the threats that had passed between them in the past, this time Mega Man had no doubt that Bass would find a way to keep his promise. Without another word he placed a hand on Rush and teleported the two of them away in a beam of light, leaving Bass alone with the remains of his loyal support unit.

Rock’s eyes were filling with tears by the time he arrived in the lab once again. Instantly he wrestled his helmet off and flung it away from him; it struck the floor with a loud bang before clattering away into a corner. By the time anyone could come to investigate the noise he was fleeing from the room. He passed Roll in the doorway, barely hearing her gasp as she narrowly avoided running straight into him, and ignored her calling out his name as he sprinted to his bedroom.

The door slammed shut behind him and he collapsed onto his bed to bury his head in his arms. Moments later there was a knock at his door, but his only response was to grab the blankets and pull them up over himself. He had no desire to answer it. It had to be Roll coming to complain about having to buff the scratches out of his helmet.

He was wrong. The voice that spoke up moments later from the other side belonged instead to Doctor Light. “Rock? Are you in there?”

“No,” he called back unconvincingly, his trembling voice muffled in his pillow.

“… I’m coming in.”

The doorknob rattled behind him and he heard the door creak open as Doctor Light let himself into the room. Rock didn’t look up even when he felt the bed sink down slightly under the doctor’s weight. “Rock, what’s this about? What happened?”

Rock opened his mouth to claim it was nothing but the words caught in his throat. It was far from nothing. Another sob shook him before he managed to choke out, “I did something horrible…”

“What could you have possibly done that would make you act in such a way?” But Doctor Light had a feeling he already knew. His actions and the damage to his arm told the story of a fight; one that he guessed had not gone to plan. He rested a hand on his son’s back as he shuddered and sniffed, waiting for him to find the strength to respond.

Rock wanted to stay where he was, but the heat he was exhaling into his pillow was growing uncomfortable. Slowly he pushed himself upright on the bed and rubbed at his eyes. “I… I killed a robot. I-it was an accident… I didn’t mean to…”

“Sometimes these things must be done. You know that well.”

Rock shook his head and squeezed his eyes shut. “… His IC chip… I-I swear I didn’t mean to…”

Doctor Light sighed, a heavy weight settling on his heart. He had feared this day might someday come, but he had always hoped for his son’s sake that it would not. “Come here,” he murmured, spreading his arms. Rock slumped against him and buried his face in his father’s shoulder, feeling undeserving of the comfort but craving it nonetheless. This time Doctor Light slowly rubbed his back in silence; there was nothing he could say to ease this pain.

Roll had appeared around the doorway, clutching the discarded helmet and wearing a questioning expression. The doctor simply shook his head and she retreated, casting concerned looks back at her twin until she was out of sight. She would need an explanation later, but for now Rock was more in need of a shoulder to cry on. It was all he could do to give him that.

* * *

The night and following day had passed in a blur for Bass. He could vaguely remember bellowing at Metal Man to the point of vocal glitching when told that Treble was beyond repair. A few other robots had received the same treatment simply for getting in his way or attempting to speak to him, but he could remember neither their faces nor what he had said to them.

The same surge of painful emotions that had led to the screaming fits now brought tears to his eyes as he knelt in the grass, his hands carefully smoothing down the freshly turned earth of the grave he had just finished filling in. He didn’t care if destroyed robots normally ended up in scrapyards. Treble deserved better, even if the only thing he could think of to do with him was to place him in a box underground. At least it meant he would be able to come back here when he needed to be close to him again.

His fists clenched on handfuls of dirt. No matter how tightly he squeezed his eyes shut the tears still spilled over. He could feel them running down his cheeks and dripping onto his hands. The pain was pulsing inside him like a barely contained explosion which threatened to tear him apart the moment he could no longer hold it in. It was a fierce agony to which no amount of physical suffering could ever compare.

“Bass?”

He drew a shuddering breath and wiped his eyes with a dirty hand before looking up. Just one day earlier he would have gladly given anything to see Blues standing before him like this again, dressed in the familiar green clothing and mismatched armour they had picked out together. But now the sight of him did nothing to dull the pain. “What are you doing here?”

“I heard the news…” Slowly Blues sank to his knees on the opposite side of the grave. “… Is he buried here?”

Bass attempted to answer but no sound came out. Instead he swallowed past the lump in his throat and nodded mutely.

For a moment there was silence between the two. Blues had his head bowed but Bass couldn’t tell if he was crying as well. The Wily bot’s eyes lingered on him for a moment before returning to the grave. “How did you hear?”

“A bystander was filming the fight,” Blues responded quietly. “The moment I heard your voice… I knew I had to come back, even if there was nothing I could do. I wish I got here in time to help bury him. But I wanted to stop for this on the way.” From within his pocket he withdrew a rubber chew toy in the shape of a yellow rabbit, just like the ones he had spent many hours throwing for Treble to fetch. As he placed it carefully upon the grave, Bass felt his throat tighten painfully again and had to avert his gaze.

“How are you coping?” Blues questioned. There was no response, but that alone seemed to tell him enough. “… Bass, what are you going to do now?”

“What do you mean?” Bass managed to grunt out.

“I mean are you going after my brother for revenge? Will you send the other Wily bots after him? Are you staying in the castle? Are you going to run away on your own like I did? Or hadn’t you thought of what to do past this burial?”

The lack of an answer once again told Blues what he needed to know. This time he rose to his feet and moved around the grave, crouching instead by Bass’ side. “… Come with me. We can escape together. I’ll help you disguise yourself and-“

“No. I can’t… I can’t…”

Bass couldn’t seem to say the last few words, but he faced the grave again and pressed both hands against it. He felt Blues’ hand come to rest on his shoulder. “You can’t leave him?”

“I’d gladly go through the rest of my life without ever seeing you again if it meant I could have him back,” Bass breathed.

The hand withdrew. Blues turned away, trying not to feel hurt by the words. He knew Bass was in more pain than he could understand - he had just lost his closest friend and the only robot he really considered family, not to mention the only person he had been able to confide in since Blues left. It was a massive blow that he might never fully recover from. Of course he would do anything to get Treble back. But he was gone now, far beyond their reach, and nothing could change that.

“Do you want me to stay with you?” he asked quietly. Bass visibly struggled with himself for a moment before nodding, to which Blues wrapped an arm securely around his shoulders. “Then I’ll stay. Even if you want to sit here all night, I’ll still be here in the morning.”

Another silent nod was the Wily bot’s response as he continued staring down at the grave. Blues settled himself more comfortably on the ground and gazed at it too before calling up memory files of the loyal wolf. All they could do for him now was remember him.


End file.
